23 November 2008, Tampa.

For once we were the lucky ones and the wind was getting less and less while we approached the Tampa sea buoy and compared to the 50 knots of last Sunday, the 25 knots that we now had at the pilot station was a piece of cake. By the time that we docked the wind was almost gone and it turned out to be a beautiful day. The sun was shining and there was hardly any wind. It was just a little bit chilly for Tampa standards but what can you expect with four cold fronts coming over in one week.

Upon arrival the CBP came on board as usual and this time they had extra work on their hands as it was time for the 90 day full crew inspection. This time it was scheduled to be done after all our guests had disembarked which worked in my favor as I could go straight to bed, after the six hour arrival standby, instead of having to hang around for another hour. Every 90 days all the crew has to be seen by the CBP to verify and insure that we all have indeed valid visas. When we enter the USA our visas are checked of course but there could always be a chance that a visa had expired while a crewmember was onboard or that a crew member boarded in a non-USA port without a valid Visa. Of course the ship would not allow the latter to happen but that is not something that the CBP can rely on. Thus every 90 days, we all line up to get a stamp on our I 95. This is a small piece of paper that we have to carry with us when going ashore in US ports, as it indicates that we are legally in the USA as crewmembers. Together with our ships I/D card it is sufficient proof to move around in the port. Of course if you want to go further afield we will need to carry our passport.

I mentioned in my last Tampa blog that I had to move the Veendam around the American Victory in order to get to the dock. The American Victory is a restored World War II cargo ship that had quite an interesting career. It survived by good fortune and ended up as an operational museum ship in Tampa. Commissioned in 1945 as the 442nd victory ship constructed; it took part in the end of WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War before returning to lay up. Her survival is due to the fact that she was part of a test case to see how long it would take and how expensive it would be to re-commission old ships from the reserve fleets in case of need. Thus in 1985 she was brought up to full operational status, sailed for 26 hours and returned to lay up in the James River Reserve fleet. In 1998 she was rescued before the scrap man could get his hands on her and she became a museum in Tampa. The ship still sails, making at least one cruise a year through Tampa Bay. As the pilot said who normally cons her during the cruise, every year we try to invade Egmont Key and each year we have to go back for a another try. http://www.americanvictory.org/

The American Victory docked in Tampa Picture courtesy: Wikipedia.

It is great to see these ships restored and kept in operational condition for generations to come. The people who knew these ships and sailed on them are quickly fading away and this is their lasting memory. I just wished it was parked somewhere else. How ever, she is docked where she is docked and thus the cruise ships have to work their way around her.

We sailed on time with a load of 1374 guests on board; including about 150 children and tomorrow we will be in Key West. It will be a sunny day and if I interpret the weather chart right, there will be less wind than originally predicted. So it looks like it that we are off to a good start.